Getting To Beirut Of The Problem

Oh, writer’s block is a right old bugger. I’ve tons of stuff to write about; live reviews of Low, Fleet Foxes and M Ward (in short: “brilliant”, “a touch meh”, and “Holy sweet mother of Jebus, how is he doing that?”; lots of new music floating around the ether, and all I can do is sit in front of my screen with my fingers unmoving and my mouse untouched.

They say the best way to get over it is to just write. So here we go.

Stop Blowing That Damned Trumpet And Row, Or You're Sleeping With The Fishes

Beirut. Jewel of the eastern Mediterranean, as well as being the name of a sporadically marvellous band hailing from New York who, over the last five years, have made some charming records using instrumentation not usually heard outside of a dive bar in Bratislava. You know, accordions and that. And now, they are back, with a new record called The Rip Tide, with a single called East Harlem. I’ve no idea what part of the world Zach Condon has trawled to get ideas from for this one, but goddamn it, it sounds fine: